Canandaigua and Walworths

September 25, 2012

The business district of Canandaigua, Michigan, was all closed up when I arrived Sunday afternoon (two Sundays ago).

Even though it didn’t look as interesting to me as the scenes on this side of the street, I got to wondering if I should have pointed my camera across the street to the left (west), to land that was originally bought from the government by a William M. Walworth. That’s the side of the road where most of the village is located.

There was a William Walworth in the 1832 militia company from Palmyra, farther east in Lenawee County. However, I’m now almost completely convinced the William M. Walworth of Canandaigua was not the William Walworth (without the middle initial M.) who was in the militia.

I’ll save what I’ve learned about the “real” William Walworth, i.e. the one who served in the militia, until I get in some more bike rides in Lenawee County and Shiawassee County and take photos of places where he and his family are known to have lived. By family, I’m in part referring to his brother Cornelius, who also served in the militia, and who left a better paper trail than William did.

In the meantime, I’ll mention that there is a Walworth family history that was written in the late 19th century. It says that all the American Walworths were descended from a William Walworth who came to American in 1689. From what I’ve learned about these people, it seems the name William has been given to a lot of Walworths. This was almost but not quite as good as a witness protection program for the purpose of hiding their identities and making it hard to track them down. Just the same, I think I’ve found the one who was in the militia.